Description

INFP (Fi-Ne-Si-Te) is is a personality type within the Jungian Cognitive Function Framework and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), often broadly referred to as the Dreamer, or Idealist.

INFPs never seem to lose their sense of wonder. One might say they see life through rose-colored glasses. It's as though they live at the edge of a looking-glass world where mundane objects come to life, where flora and fauna take on near-human qualities.

Not sure if I can speak for us all, but I will try to describe myself. My actions are completely based on how I am feeling at the time, and my feelings are unpredictable and usually very strong. Generally tolerant, things I take personal offence to I really take personal offence to, insults will linger for days in my head and we're generally willing to forgive, but less so to forget. We're usually quite good at reading people, but only if we are interested in them, otherwise we tend to classify people as an impersonal blur that is secondary to the vivid colours and shapes that everyday life constantly displays to us. We are quite content observing society, though we dislike when conversation is based around things we don't care about, but when we have common interests boy do you have someone to talk to about them! Our interests are somewhat surrealist and escapist art forms, and we usually aren't enamoured with popularity. Our self esteem is usually royally fucked, because we take insults personally. Unless we see a human or artistic aspect to things, we truly don't care. Your trivial problems and questions are the sorts of things we love because it makes us feel wanted and needed and brings us back down from our minds.

Sorry for writing this horribly, I'm watching TV and the sunset is nice right now, good luck! Any further questions don't hesitate!

I think the two main things that set us apart is that we can really get into other people's shoes, and that we come off as illogical when we try to apply logic to our statements. The second point merits some explanation, so I'm going with something that happened usually with my ex-gf.

I'd come to her to share a problem I was having in making a decision or another of some consequence, not just ice cream vs sundae. Then I'd tell her what I wanted really bad to do about it (say burning people's houses down with lemons), and she would say, "well go for it then". I would then immediately point out that I actually couldn't because of the logical consequences of giving reins to my acidic vengeance (cute enough that jail would be very bad, combustible lemons are in short supply, etc). She would then say "well, then don't do it".

Then I'd retort that I really wanted to do something like that, it would make me very happy. Then she would give up and ask me what in hell was I doing about my decision then. And until I came to heads with one option, I'd be in loop. What I usually did was project my decision onto another person and ask myself what would they do, or how would I help them. But it would drive my gf crazy because, for her, it seemed like I was just messing with her mind, getting her to agree to something and then counter it, then making her agree to something else and countering that too.

Infp is madness until we get combustible lemons and a get out of jail free card.

PS: notice how we all were apparently too lazy to provide a lengthy response but we couldn't help ourselves.

I am an INTP, and I am also torn between the conflict of logic vs. emotion when one is obviously the "good" thing to do, and the other has obvious negative consequences. However, I find myself on the opposite side of the divide, trying to explain to people that while I would never do something, because it is emotionally absurd, it is a logical course of action.

For example, I can be talking to friends about politics or philosophy, and say something like "the world would be improved if we killed 90% of humanity with flaming lemons". They say something similar to what your ex-gf said, along the lines of "well then, why don't you do it?" I have to say that it is obviously cruel and not something I would ever want to do, regardless of the availability of explosive lemons. From there on I am arguing against myself from both sides.

Generally tolerant, things I take personal offence to I really take personal offence to, insults will linger for days in my head and we're generally willing to forgive, but less so to forget.

Nailed it with this one. I'm actually experiencing this right now.

Last night my best friend ditched me in the pursuit of getting laid. Understandable, but the bastard fed me a line about how it would be too much driving for him to pick me up and drop me off even though my house is on the way. (Also he made the initial plans) I know the truth is he just wanted to be alone with the girl and didn't want my presence to hurt his chances with her. If he had said that I probably would have laughed it off, but because he blatantly lied to me I've felt betrayed and have been brooding in it since.

This was great, I can really relate. (INFP here too)
Espeically the thing about other peoples trivial problems, I have gotten addicted to reading peoples blogs, especially those who write about trivial things. I have come to find though, that they seem less and less trivial the more I get to know them. Then the mind-bending starts again.
Also, the thing about self-esteem made me laugh. I've never had any self-esteem. You seem to know the INFP very well.

Feeling too lazy to write a lengthy response right now. We are a lot like you INTPs but with one major difference. We have huge Fi with no Ti and you have huge Ti with no Fi. We both use Ne quite frequently and we both use Si which leads to similar ways of idea generation and stimulus response. However, we completely lack a perspective of the other type's dominant function. We have weak Te and you have weak Fe. We have little to no access to stored information that Ti provides and you have little to no access to the extreme awareness of our feelings we possess. How this manifests is that we will Ne everywhere with no Ti to provide a framework while experiencing intense emotional connections through Fi. We will be able to keep up with your mind, but we will require some reminders of the stored facts you are drawing from because we do not have that same store. As for Fi, its what makes us feel so incredibly estranged from the rest of the world. We always think about the emotional response first to any action and so take action to make the most harmony in our world. We don't understand why other people place such great importance on being "right" or "powerful" and we never see the benefit of profiting at another's expense. We aren't selfless, we can be selfish, but its not going to be in a direct way, its going to be indirect like avoiding perceived challenges etc. Basically we want to see a world come into existence where everyone is treated equal and fairly and can live together harmoniously and without conflict. Such a place cannot exist so we are often torn between upholding our ideal dreams and dealing with the present reality.

We're (at least I) are a ridiculous pile of paradoxes sometimes. We're very well aware of our thoughts and feelings on a situation, but trying to actually verbally translate them from flowery blobs of emotion into actual definite words is nigh impossible.

We can get hurt and insulted very easily, taking trivial things to heart because they might imply something about the core nature of how a friend feels about us, but we also recover very easily. We're very fluid in that regard.

We're basically a big blur of emotion. We feel things really strongly and because of that, we can easily tell how other people are feeling. Though we have strong moral codes, we are driven by emotion. We can be reckless sometimes, but our stickiness to rules prevents us from going completely overboard. Man, do we feel stuff. Everything you say to us is processed emotionally before it is processed logically, which is why we are so easily insulted. Often times, we pay more attention to the delivery (your tone of voice, your body language, etc) of what you say, rather than your words themselves. Our emotions are so strong, and our passions (however few they may be) are incredible in their depth. When we love something, we love it with all our self. We devote ourselves completely to our passions, which makes it difficult for us sometimes to do the things we don't love as much. It is easy for us to focus completely on certain things and neglect others, and doing "uninteresting" things is so damn difficult. Because of this, we have an ability to procrastinate - basically, what we don't feel like doing, we won't.

Everything that happens to me and everything I do is filtered through my feelings. As an INTP, you probably make your decisions after reflecting on your thoughts and what you think is logical. I do the same thing, except with my feelings. It might, at first glance, appear irrational, but it really isn't. There is very much a method to my madness.

With that as a starting point, it is important to consider that each INFP might have very different feelings about the same thing. What is common is that we strive for harmony and we REALLY, REALLY don't like conflict--it hurts our souls. I have had friends who like to argue just for the sake of it. I can't understand this at all. I mean, I guess in an abstract manner I can sort of understand how arguing and debating is a means of exploring different sides of an issue, but I still hate it. IMO, it would be far better to just talking about it and explore the possibilities together, as a team. That way we can all win.

I'm pretty non-competitive. I played sports as a kid but I never cared if I won or lost. Don't get me wrong, I tried really hard and I always did my best. But at the end of the game, it was over and I forgot about it. Win or lose, it made no difference to me. Most of the time, I don't really like games. I do quite like the card game cribbage, but if you know anything about that game you'd know that the game is almost entirely based on luck. There's some skill involved but I think the game is about 90 percent luck. It sure is fun though and, perhaps because so much of it is luck based, it doesn't seem like a big competition. My ideal is for everyone to live and work together in harmony. Anything which might contribute to harmony is good. Anything which threatens it is bad.

I'm incredibly rule-bound. If there is a rule, I will follow it. Rules exist for a reason and it would be best for all of us if we all follow the rules. The only exception is if a rule goes against my very strong moral compass. In that case, fuck the rule and no one should follow it! But, as you can see, even that is rule-following behavior in a way, it is just that I'm following an internally-derived rule. INFPs like to think about morality a lot. All of the traditional subjects of philosophy in general and moral philosophy in particular are very interesting and worth considering. Socrates said that "The unexamined life is not worth living". Well, an INFP likely will never have trouble with that!

We might appear mild-mannered and even meek on the surface, but that belies an inner intensity. We have very firm values and we won't compromise on them. If someone threatens our values or attempts to force us into doing something we don't agree with they will be met with an unmovable force. We will dig in our heels and we will not budge. Not. One. Bit. So don't even try! That being said, we can be quite willing to change our opinion on an issue of there is a well-reasoned argument and our values are upheld. Going along with all this, if someone does violate our values or hurts us we will be deeply hurt. Kiersey (an author who writes on type and temperament) indicates that some have called my type the "oversensitives." Harsh as that may sound, it is probably true. On the other hand, although we can be quick to anger we are just as quick to forgive. I wish I could say that we are quick to forget, but, sadly, that is not always the case. Although we forgive those who wrong us we will often carry that memory for a very long time.